Grilli suffers apparent injury in Pirates' 6-5 victory over Nationals

AP - Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Jason Grilli, left, walks off the field with a trainer during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Monday, July 22, 2013, in Washington. The Pirates won 6-5.

AP - The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen rounds third base and is greeted by Nick Leyva after hitting a two-run homer in the third inning against the Nationals on Monday, July 22, 2013, in Washington.

Getty Images - Pirates starter Charlie Morton delivers in the first inning against the Nationals on Monday, July 22, 2013.

Getty Images - The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen celebrates in the first inning after hitting his first of two two-run homers against the Nationals on Monday, July 22, 2013.

AP - The Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman tosses his bat after striking out against the Pirates in the sixth inning Monday, July 22, 2013.

Pirates podcasts

Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

WASHINGTON — Pirates manager Clint Hurdle tried to sound cheery, but he was not very convincing.

“I'm pleased we won a game,” Hurdle said Monday night after the Pirates outlasted the Washington Nationals, 6-5.

A win, yes, but potentially with a very high cost. Closer Jason Grilli left the game with two outs in the ninth inning with what the team said is right-forearm discomfort. Grilli will be re-evaluated Tuesday by doctors.

Called upon to protect a 6-3 lead, Grilli gave up a two-run homer to Jayson Werth. Denard Span doubled.

After throwing the first pitch to pinch hitter Steve Lombardozzi, Grilli flexed his right hand, clearly in pain, and stepped off the mound. After an athletic trainer briefly looked at his arm and elbow, Grilli left the game.

“He threw the ball and grimaced,” catcher Russell Martin said. “He called the trainers out, said he had some tightness and that was it. It's definitely a blow. Hopefully, it's not as severe as it can be. Hopefully, it's something minor.”

Grilli sat alone at his locker, head down. He did not speak with reporters.

In 2002, Grilli had Tommy John surgery and missed that entire season. In 2010, he sat out another season while recovering from major knee surgery.

Grilli certainly will miss at least some time recovering from this injury. Mark Melancon, who has 23 career saves, will fill in as the closer while Grilli is out.

“You hope for the best,” said right-hander Charlie Morton, who tossed 6 2⁄3 solid innings for the win. “It's never good to see somebody in pain, let alone your All-Star closer.”

Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat, then smacked another two-run shot in his second against Nationals right-hander Dan Haren.

It's no surprise McCutchen went off in the shadow of the Capitol dome. In 12 career games at Nationals Park, McCutchen is a .418 hitter with five homers and 12 RBI.

Overall against the Nationals, McCutchen is batting .431 with 13 homers and 26 RBI.

In the first inning, Jordy Mercer drew a one-out walk. McCutchen drove a 1-2 pitch to the opposite field. In the third, after Starling Marte was hit by a pitch, McCutchen launched his 14th homer of the season into the left-field seats.

McCutchen's blasts were the Pirates' first multi-run homers since July 12, when Pedro Alvarez jacked a two-run shot in the first inning against the New York Mets. The Pirates went deep six times — all solo homers — in three games over the weekend in Cincinnati.

Although they broke their string of solo home runs Monday, the Pirates continued to struggle to manufacture runs. The Pirates have two hits in their past 35 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Martin led off the fourth with a single and went to third base on Garrett Jones' double.

In the fifth inning, Mercer hit a one-out double off the left-field wall. But Haren (4-11) fanned McCutchen and Alvarez.

That's 0 for 5 with RISP.

Martin singled and stole second in the sixth. Jones grounded out, moving Martin to third. Sanchez popped out to short, and Morton grounded out.

That's 0 for 8 with RISP.

In the eighth, Alvarez was at third and Martin at second with one out. Sanchez hit a fly ball to left, but too shallow for Alvarez to score. The Pirates got a run out of the inning when reliever Drew Storen threw a wild pitch. Alvarez slid in hard, and Storen dropped the throw from catcher Wilson Ramos. Travis Snider popped out.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Total Promotional Solutions

A division of Trib Total Media is your one-stop-shop for all of your branded merchandise needs.

We specialize in providing quality affordable promotional products for every type of business including non-profits, schools, universities, sports teams and more. With 1000’s of products to choose from, our knowledgeable staff can help you find the perfect apparel item or product to suit your needs and budget.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.